Eight million civilians living in 'state of fear' in IS-held territory: UN expert -

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 2 (APP): The Islamic State has engaged in widespread and systematic human rights violations of the most serious kinds in Syria and Iraq, brutally forcing some 8 million people to 'assimilate, flee or face death,' according to a United Nations expert.

US appreciates Pakistan's constructive role in Afghan reconciliation process -

Washington, July 31 (APP): Appreciating Pakistan's constructive role in the Afghan reconciliation process, a U.S. State Department spokesman on Thursday encouraged the Taliban to seize a 'moment of opportunity' to make genuine peace and become part of the legitimate political system of Afghanistan.

UNITED NATIONS, July 31 (APP): Senior diplomats and UN officials at a highly appreciated Pakistan-sponsored panel discussion on the plight of refugees and migrants Thursday called for addressing the root causes of the massive human movements -- conflicts, persecution and poverty -- in a bid to end this grave humanitarian crisis.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 2 (APP): All praises for Pakistan Special Olympians who brought great honours for the country as they continued their habit of winning medals, adding one more gold to their medal tally on the last day of Special World Games held in Los Angeles.

KARACHI, July 31 (APP): Pakistan Table Tennis Federation (PTTF)Friday named a 11-member squad for the 22nd Asian Table Tennis Championship being staged at Pattaya (Thailand) from September 26 to September 3.

ISLAMABAD, Mar 6 (APP): Around 2.1 million children are born each year with mental disorders in the country due to iodine deficiency in pregnant women.According to health experts, iodine deficiency in children leads to mental retardation, loss of cognitive abilities, still born, miscarriage and birth of children with congenital abnormalities like deaf, dumb and stunted.Urinary iodine test results revealed a bigger figure of about 36% of mothers and 23% of pre-school children suffering from severe iodine deficiency in the country, they added.

According to them, the utilization
of iodized salt at the household level was only 17% despite 56.4%
respondents were aware about iodized salt.They said goiter rates among school
age children were 4.3% in urban and 8.2% in rural areas of the country.
According to national nutrition survey, the national prevalence of
goiter among women was 21%, they added. They said that iodizing edible salt
was an easy and inexpensive way to provide the iodine to the children.
They added still there are some problems which need to be addressed like
low consumer demand, lack of quality control, absence of legislation
and low production of iodized salt.They urged institutions both public
and private, individuals, parents and children to come forward and join
hands for elimination of iodine deficiency disorder from the country.They said the role of the media was
important to create awareness among the people about the issue as the
most common way to prevent such pervasive public health problem was salt
iodization.They suggested to have three
pronged strategy to address the iodine deficiency disorders in the
country included legislation for universal salt iodization, supply side
interventions and demand creation activities.